Picking up those brushes again.

Hi and welcome to the occasional mutterings of Dave Doc, a military modeller and some time gamer. Gaming and model making has given me a real education, History & Geography(obvious really), Artistry, Politics, Economics, Logistics, Project Management -you try building miniature armies without the last 3.

I will use the blog to record my creations & the odd occasion I actually do some gaming.

I have always been inspired by the aesthetic side of gaming. Playing on well constructed terrain using excellently painted units is always a joy.

Saturday, 19 March 2016

Sudan - Royal Engineer Balloon Detachment

A
little sideline of something from left field for the Sudan. While
flicking through some reference material I found mention of the "Royal
Engineers Balloon Detachment " that took part in the 1885 Suakin
campaign. In a fit of madness I thought that would be something very
different, and an interesting modelmaking challenge.Balloons
were first deployed by the British Army’s Royal Engineers during the
expedition to Suakin in 1885. The balloon, which was of goldbeater's
skin (a thin transparent membrane with great
tensile strength which was traditionally used as an interleaf for the
manufacture of gold leaf) , covered with a netting. It measured twenty-three
feet in diameter. When filled it contained seven thousand cubic feet of
gas.This had to be brought all the way from Chatham in the UK, a
distance of nearly four thousand miles.

anyone seen any Fuzzies?

The
balloon would be used above a column of troops at about 200 feet up to
give advance visibility - communications was by dropping message down to
the ground. Here it is mounted on a 300mm long, 5mm diameter
transparent acrylic rod set onto a CD sized base. The rod fits in to the
base of the balloon through the basket.

The
balloon itself is made from a 11cm Polystrene sphere from a craft shop
with Milliput used to form the base inflating area part. I found a
large "O" seal in the spares box to stretch around the equator part of
the balloon. The netting was recyled from a bag of onions , and was used
to cover the painted sphere and tied round with a cable tie to the base
of the balloon. I made the basket from balsa wood , and the rigging and
ground rope hanging from the balloon is twisted wire all soldered
together.

I
now need to get my head around making a full ground crew, and transport
for the deflated balloon and gas - but that's a project for another day
or several.

What a splendid piece Dave! Kudos!It's really inspiring what you used to create the balloon and I'd love to borrow the idea. A pity that the Brits didn't employ them five years earlier in Afghanistan...